Wondering in which countries to look for programmatic buying? Are you looking in Europe? We have packed some information on Europe its developments to help you along your way.

According to Magna Global global ad sales are expecting an increase of around 4.3% this year and programmatic spend took 42% of all display related sales with a size of 21 billion euro. This year it is expected to take an even higher margin. In this article we will take a closer look at developments in Europe. It is slower than in the US, but it is interesting to see that the countries with the strongest ties to the US adopt programmatic the fastest. We will look at the adoption of programmatic advertising and video. In the chart below you are able to see the penetration of programmatic advertising in a set of European countries.

In the UK programmatic adoption is very high with 59%. Being the biggest online ad market in Europe also the programmatic market is by far the largest. It is slightly behind the US because of the power the agencies hold in the UK, which try to hold it off. In the adoption of programmatic video they are second with 32.2%. Magna Global’s rapport tells that this is caused by the strong in house skills and advanced digital business models.

This shows the importance of knowledge sharing of programmatic advertising technologies. Even though the adoption of programmatic is high, people still need clarification on the technology and the benefits that it offers. Companies can only improve their capabilities by properly training their staff on how to use these technologic developments.

Although being the third largest market they have seen tremendous adoption of programmatic with 60% adoption. They also have the highest adoption rate of programmatic video with 34% towering above everybody else. Nathalie La Verge from Deloitte Netherlands says the following: “We saw new players entering the programmatic landscape, the first programmatic deals in other media like radio and outdoor, existing players broadening their portfolios, and advertisers starting to trade themselves.” With these traditional media becoming far less traditional the momentum picks up for programmatic.

Next week in Part 2, you can read how the other countries of Europe are developing.